Return to Forever
by basketballchick13
Summary: "Once you break a glass there will always be one small piece missing no matter how hard you try to fix it." Five years after MAX the flock has slowly drifted away to different parts of the world. When the world needs them again, Raina struggles to string this family-turned-strangers back together. None of them never met this girl, but she's more related than they could ever guess.
1. Chapter 1

**Max POV**

I walked down the crowded streets of L.A, feeling ironically lonely. Sometimes I forgot what was so appealing about this city. It was full of a bunch of wanna-bes and con men. Then I remembered...I was one of those people. The city had nearly four million people living here with more moving in each day. You could come hear and be whoever you wanted to be. Except I came here with the opposite motive than everyone else; to not be noticed, to blend in. And for the last year that's exactly what I've been doing.

The whole flock had started splitting up almost five years ago. Nudge was the first to go, opting for some sort of boarding school in the East. Iggy was close to follow, being hired out by the military to build bombs and other pyro-maniac things. Angel and Gazzy found their parents and, considering how young they were, they actually had a chance at having a semi-normal lives. That being said, they went to live with their parents. And then four years ago Fang and I slowly started drifting apart. I started making more and more public speeches raising awareness about the School and other dangers in the world. Then Fang got recruited into the New York Times. One of us always seemed to be gone. Then a year went by and we just...stopped seeing each other. No emails, texts, phone calls. No nothing. A little over a year ago when I turned 18 Ella and I's mom decided that she wanted to be a veterinarian that worked with endangered species in Africa and set us up with an apartment in L.A. It worked out because I did a lot of my work in L.A and Ella had graduated early and was going to UCLA.

I kept in touch with everyone else. I've even seen Angel and Gazzy quite a few times, only seeing Nudge once. But it was different with Fang. It was too painful to keep in touch with him without being able to see him.

My phone rang in my back pocket, making me scramble to answer it.

"Ella?" I answered.

"No, it's Greg," the voice on the other side of the phone corrected.

"Why are you using Ella's phone?" I asked, irritated.

"I was wondering if you could babysit tonight..."

Greg was Ella's boyfriend and the bane of my existence. He had a baby of his own that his ex-girlfriend dumps on his doorsteps every weekend while she goes out and parties. He also thought that it was okay to dump her on our doorstep whenever he wanted to go out drinking with his buddies. And because Ella was such a sweetheart she accepted (much to my annoyance). But this was the first time that he had grown the balls to ask me to do it alone.

"Hell no," I objected. "Hire yourself a babysitter."

Frankly, I didn't hate children...I was slightly afraid of them, especially babies. First of all, they cry and you have to figure out just what they want. Second...more comes out the back end than you put in the front end and that's just creepy. I just don't do babies.

"Just this once?" He pleaded with me.

"No," I snapped. "Tell me, what are you going to do tonight that's more important than spending time with your daughter?"

Ella would kill me for talking to her boyfriend like that, but she would never find out because he knew that if she found out that he had been asking me to baby-sit she would kill him. Ella had a class on Friday nights for the next two months so I had no idea what Greg was going to do for those two months.

"I just need a break," he said. "Hang out with some of my friends."

I rolled my eyes. He was a trust fund baby. Sure, he wasn't Bill Gates rich, but he hadn't done real work a day of his life. He was going to college now, but I knew that half the time he ditched class and the other half he was sleeping off the hangovers. His daughter, Jackie was the only thing that gave him a reason to be sober a couple days of the week.

"You hung out with your friends-owwww.." I winced. "I have to go."

I had tripped on a piece of concrete jutting out. All of the papers that I had been carrying for my meeting at 2 this afternoon were scattered across the sidewalk. I ran a series of humanitarian projects out of my office just down the street from here. Why couldn't I just walk one block in wedges without dropping or tripping. What was the use of avian DNA if I couldn't walk straight in fashionable shoes (I wouldn't care, but come on people, it's L.A). As I scrambled to grab every piece of paper that I could, my "birdy" sense went off making me freeze.

My head whipped around to find anyone suspicious, especially erasers. What can I say? Old habits die hard, even after five years of no trouble. After taking a shaky breath, I almost convinced myself that there was no one around. That is, until I backed into someone, in which case I blindly snapped into fight mode. First I jabbed the person in the nose in order to cause enough pain for them to be distracted long enough for me to determine whether or not I could take them in a fight. Second, I went towards the esophagus, but a hand blocked me last second just like they knew exactly what my next move was going to be. That made me panic even further. This person either had really good reflexes or had a training of some sort.

My papers were completely done for. I had dropped them in my panic. I could faintly hear them fluttering down the street. I went for the lower stomach, but was blocked there as well. The person grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

"Geez, Max, I know you're mad at me but in public?"

Every muscle in my body tightened at the familiar touch. Memories flooded over the dam that I had constructed over time in my mind. I didn't know whether to be elated or pissed.

"What the hell are you doing here Fang?"


	2. Chapter 2

**So part of this chapter is going to be in Raina's POV in order to introducing her as a character. I hope you guys enjoy :) **

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**Raina POV **

I watched from across the street as Max and Fang met for the first time in years, crossing my fingers hoping that it would go by smoothly. This moment was vital for everything to work. I had sent Fang an anonymous tip that he just might want to do a story on this Makenna (the name that Max had made up for herself so she wasn't as easy to get a hold of by people she really wanted nothing to do with) girl before anyone else did.

It took some hard research to find Max, but if you really wanted to find her you could. She was the silent powerhouse behind the biggest volunteer and fundraiser projects in the city and she was only 19 years old. If Fang didn't do a story on 'Makenna', someone else would. Fang, on the other hand, was super easy to find. In fact he was hard to get away from. He was one of the biggest journalists in the country now, with his name splattered across Time magazine, New York Times, etc. Despite his reclusive personality, he didn't really make an effort to stay hidden. I had been waiting for this moment for years...I just couldn't believe it was finally happening.

Running across the street, I picked up as many papers as I could without getting hit by a car. The majority of them were done for, but I got quite a few of them. I stood there for a few seconds, letting the two soul mates stare at each other in shock for just a little while longer before tapping her on the shoulder.

"Hi, are you Makenna?" I asked like I didn't already know.

Max struggled to rip her gaze away from Fang and respond to me. "Yes, I am. Are you Raina's assistant or something?"

I was funding her next project...something to do with stopping abuse in the home. 'Makenna' and I had been emailing back and forth for a couple weeks, but she had no idea what I looked like and she probably thought that I was a lot older, or at least not a teenager. A teenager with this much money spending it on things other than drugs, clothes or cars was usually shocking to people. People also assumed that I was some trust fund baby (even though that was very far from the truth), but they didn't question it because money was money no matter where, how, or who it came from, especially in a city like Los Angeles.

"No, I am Raina," I corrected her in the friendliest tone possible. First impressions are always a big impact, right? If that was the case, then this was probably one of the most vital moments for my plans.

"Wow you're young," she commented in awe.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," I agreed. "I bet you do too."

She nodded. "Yeah, it's nice to see another fresh face."

I looked over at Fang, feigning curiosity. "Is this your boyfriend?"

To be honest, it was entertaining to watch the two exchange awkward glances while they figured out how to respond. Not to surprisingly, Fang didn't say a word.

"No...this is just a very old friend of mine," Max explained after a moment of silence.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I apologized. "Um...here are some of the papers that you dropped. I tried to grab as many as possible."

"Right, our meeting," she muttered to herself. "Why don't we go get started?"

* * *

**Fang's POV**

I had no idea what was going on, but I silently followed Max just like the old days. It seemed like Max had forced herself to forget about me and focus on this girl, Raina. Some person had emailed me about Makenna, the silent rising star when it came to changing the world. Never would I have ever guessed that Makenna was actually Max. Could it really be a coincidence? Seeing as how coincidences don't exist in our real world, I doubted it. But I was too distracted by the fact that Max was _right in front of me _to really give a shit.

the office was so Max-like, free and open. There were no solid walls inside the office. The one meeting room had a glass wall kind of like what you would see on a shower door. It was far from the office at the New York Times with office dividers and uniformity, not that I ever used my desk there. In fact, I'm not sure they even had a desk for me anymore. There was no pattern for desks, they were just placed randomly. There was no blank spot on the walls. The ten people that worked there were all under thirty, if not twenty-five.

Neither Max or the girl with her seemed to care that I followed them into the meeting room. Both of them sat down, but I opted to watch by the door.

"So, since I lost most of the papers, we're going to have to start from scratch," Max said apologetically.

I stared at her the entire time, figuring out pretty quickly that she was purposely avoiding my gaze. What was I supposed to do? Just up and leave? Part of my brain told me that that would probably make it easier for the both of us, but the other part wouldn't let me budge. I let my eyes wonder all over her body. Everything was the same except...was Max voluntarily wearing heels?

Max was talking to her client about some fundraiser or something that was going to cost up into the hundreds of thousands. I honestly couldn't care less about it. All I could think about was if I should get the hell out of there or if I should stay and at least catch up with Max.

At least an hour passed by before I focused back on what they were saying, only because they were ending the meeting.

"So Friday at two?" Max clarified.

"Definitely," Raina confirmed. "And just call me if you need to change that."

The two were about to walk out the door of the meeting. I let Raina through before stepping in front of Max and blocking the door so she couldn't get out unless she shoved me. Max's lips tightened like they always did when she was going through the 'choose your battles' thoughts. She still refused to look at me, instead looking at Raina over my shoulder, which I did as well.

"Are you two okay?" Raina asked, her face a little skeptical.

"Yeah," Max assured. "I'll see you on Friday!"

"Okay," she agreed, a little uncertain. "Have a good day."

"You too," Max replied.

I silently willed Raina to just go away. Max and I were already getting some looks from around the office. Who could blame them? She must have gotten the message because she was finally on her merry way out of the office in a matter of seconds. I stepped forward, forcing Max to take a step backward, closing the door behind me.

"What do you want, Fang?" She sighed.

"A date," I answered honestly.

Her face twisted into confusion. "A date," she stated.

I nodded. "A date."

Her expression of confusion morphed into a 'screw it' state. "Okay, why the hell not?"

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**I hope you guys like Raina! I'll tell you right now that she has nothing but good intentions, but she does have a dark past. **

**More and more members of the flock will start showing up next chapter. Please leave some reviews! **


	3. Chapter 3

**It's time for Nudge! Hopefully this will explain why she left and how she's changed within the last five years. Personally I think she's my favorite character because she's just like my best friend.**

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**Nudge POV **

"Did you borrow my purple jacket again?" I asked my roommate accusingly (what? She has a reputation for borrowing without asking).

"Yeah sorry," Janelle said from behind me.

A purple blob landed on the top of my head, my jacket. "I don't even know why we have separate closets," I teased her.

But it was true. Janelle and I had the same taste. Not to mention we were the same size and the same height (give a half an inch on my part), same size feet. Usually when we bought our clothes we made sure the other liked it, which of course we did. Then again, we made most of our own clothes anyways like most everyone in the Fashion Design program at the Art Institute in NYC.

"Because you don't know what a hanger is," she reminded me.

The one big difference we had was our organizational skills. Seeing as I hadn't had a room to myself before I went to boarding school and I was constantly moving around, I was terrible when it came to having a closet. Then Janelle had a neat freak as a child and a lot of that carried over to her. I grumbled about her borrowing stuff without asking while she whined about how unorganized I was. Otherwise we were perfect roommates.

"Do you need to check to make sure all your hangers are exactly one centimeter apart?" I joked.

"Shut up," she said, rolling her eyes.

I pulled my jacket on over my plain boatneck dress that went down to my knees. It was supposed to rain today so I needed something with a hood on it. My hair took an hour to straighten so there was no way in hell I was going to let some H2O ruin that for me.

I tried going down the road at MIT last year, but those people were so socially...different that I was. Even though I was great with computers, I craved the social contact that I got here. When I accidentally ran into one of the teachers here and dropped my notebook, she immediately recommended that I go to their college. Before MIT I had went to high school in a nice boarding school in the Appalachian Mountains. Think Zoey 101; Mountain style. The problem was that I tested out of every class after three years, so they shoved into graduation quickly. I still kept in touch with Max via email a couple times a month, but I avoided it because it reminded me that I would never be completely 'human.' The original idea was to slowly convince everyone else in the flock to join me, but unfortunately that never happened. Instead, everyone went their own way. I would never forget my past, but how could I go back to a family that had turned into strangers?

"Monique!" I heard a screech down the hall.

Yes, I had changed my name from Monique to Nudge, but not to get away from the wings. In fact, the wings were my main selling point. Everyone knew about the wings. Sure it freaked everyone out as soon as they found out that one of the infamous bird kids was me, but the wings were just one of the many crazy things in this school. I've seen body piercings on every part of the body (and I really do mean _every _part of the body). You'd have girls that wore plaid shirts with Cheetah print leggings. No one cared that I had feathers, they just thought it might be useful on a fashion show one day. No, I changed my name because Monique (kinda) rhymed with unique.

"Yes?" I screamed back, even though I didn't have to because the walls were barely thicker than a piece of cardboard.

It was our signature gay guy in the dorm hall, Julio. You could tell his voice from a mile away. He had one of those high pitched screams that only dogs and dolphins could decipher.

"Get your ass down to the lobby," Julio told me, peeking his head into the room.

"Why, what's wrong?" I asked.

I was always nervous because a) I was the youngest person here and b) I was here on scholarship. One wrong move and I was gone, but then again this was a super liberal school so you'd really have to screw up to piss the school off. They honestly didn't give a shit, but I still couldn't help but worry once and a while.

"Raina Vaughn is on the conference screen," he told me.

"Whose that?" I asked, feeling stupid as soon as I asked the question. Even after five years of staying up-to-date with the real world, I was still in the dark about a few things. Powerpuff girls? No clue. Full house? Nothing. And yet everyone else that actually had a childhood knew those things automatically.

"A rich girl," he answered. "Think Paris Hilton fortune with Jennifer Lawrence likability and sort of looks like Nina Dobrev."

Huh, that didn't help jog my memory at all, but I already liked the sound of her already.

"What the hell does she want with me?" I asked.

Julio shrugged. "I have no idea, but I would get my ass in there as soon as possible."

I did exactly just that, getting my ass in a seat in the conference room. The conference room was basically a soundproof study room, but 'conference room' sounded so much more professional and mature.

The girl was pretty and...young. Well, older than me by two or three years, but still.

"Nudge?"

A pang of nostalgia tugged at my heartstrings at the sound of my old name, but the smile on my face remained unphased. "Yes, I go by Monique though," I told her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I was just going by the name that was on the recommendation," she told me. "You're probably wondering why I'm calling."

"Yes, I'm very curious," I agreed.

"Well we're doing a fashion show fundraiser," she explained. "I wanted someone from all of the major fashion cities of the world to design something."

"And you want _me _to design something for you?" I questioned her, slightly wondering if she was insane. "I haven't even graduated from school yet."

I internally cursed myself for playing myself down to her. She wanted me for reasons unknown and yet here I was questioning her judgement out loud right in front of her.

She smiled as if she knew my exact thoughts. "I know its crazy, but this is like a newbie thing. All models are going to be new as well. I want everyone to be under twenty."

It sounded like one of those things too good to be true. Yet, here it was right in front of me screaming my name. I didn't want to be like that guy that had sold his Apple share back in the seventies for a couple thousand of dollars for what was now worth nearly a billion dollars. If I passed this up and my professor heard about it I had no doubt that she would be pissed. Everyone in the dorm would be shocked...and a little bit pissed too. We relied on each other. If one of us made it big, there was a silent agreement that we would help the others climb up with us.

"What about school though?" I blurted, clasping my mouth with my own hand. I'd had to learn how to control my mouth a little better when Iggy wasn't there to cover my mouth.

"I already talked to your school and they agreed that this can count as an entire semester's credit," she assured. "Monique, this is going to be the time of your life, but we're going to be crazy busy."

"How big of a project is this?" I asked.

"We're talking millions of dollars," she said.

I scratched my ear to make sure that it was working properly. Even my supersonic hearing can go awry sometimes, especially if you've been pulling all nighters helping your friends finish their projects. "How much?"

"Millions," she repeated. "I mean I'm not putting millions into it alone, of course, but I'm the primary organizer. There's just one catch, though."

This is where I got skeptical. There had been so many catches in my life. Anne wanted to adopt us, but the catch was that she was psycho. Jeb helped us, but the catch was that he wanted to use us. At least she had the balls to come out and say it herself.

"What's the catch?" I asked nervously.

"I need you to temporarily move to L.A for six months for this," she told me. "I'm going to pay for everything, including a salary for you."

I felt my smile decrease a little and she must have noticed because she tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that I can't leave my best friend for that long," I admitted.

She smiled. "Then bring her!"

I narrowed my eyebrows. "Really?" I asked, taken aback. "I can't ask that much."

"Well I can't just ask you to up and leave your life that you've established in one of the best cities in the world so bringing one person isn't that much to ask on your part," she pointed out.

As bad as I felt asking that much, I definitely wasn't going to argue with her about this. "Thank you so much!"

I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the conversation, I was too elated. My heart was beating much too fast for me to pay close attention to any detail. But no matter because she told me she would email me all of the details. After a half hour of talking she said she had to go, but she would see me within a couple of days.

"Janelle!" I screamed down the halls.

"What?" She yelled back. "What the hell does Raina Vaughn want with you?"

"She wants hire you and I to design dresses," I told her.

"You and _me _?" She asked, confused.

I nodded. "We leave in two days."

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**I know this probably sounds like it was written by Barbie, but...this was just how I pictured Nudge. Don't worry, I'll make her a little more grounded once she reunites with the flock. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it's been so long guys, but something went awry with my account so that I couldn't log in for some wierd reason. Anyway, I'm back and kicking :) This chapter is all about the Igster.**

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There was a commotion outside, but I didn't really feel like giving a shit this early in the morning, so I ignored it as much as possible. But my effort to go back to sleep seemed to be futile because Sanders barged into my room.

"Igs."

I stayed still, hoping that he would just go the hell away.

We were back on our base in Switzerland and I was trying to take advantage of the peacefulness of the famously nuetral country. Despite the fact that we had no work to do, the guys were anxious to blow something up, which I'm almost sure was why they were trying to wake me up.

Sanders cruelly ripped off the sheets that I haven't washed since the day that I got them.

"Fuck off," I grumbled, finally giving up on sleep.

"Get your ass out of bed," he told me. "There's a call for you."

A call? There was never a call for me. Other guys got calls from their immediate family (we couldn't let just anyone contact us, too risky), but, well, I didn't exactly have a family. I didn't leave the flock on the best terms and I figured if I hadn't heard from them in two years, I wasn't going to hear from them through a phone line that they didn't know about.

"Bullshit," I denied. "You probably have it mixed up with Briggs."

We all called each other by our last name (another thing that I didn't have). By some unfortunate coincident my name ended up rhyming with someone elses so they always ended up mixing us up. That's right, some of the most brilliant masterminds in the world confused the names of a tall blonde bird kid and a short half-Japanese (he got Briggs from the white side of his family) man in his mid thirties.

"No, it's definitely for you," he confirmed.

I shook my head in disbelief. "Who the hell is calling me on a secrured line?"

"She says her name is Raina Vaughn," he told me.

The name rang a bell, but a very rusty one. From what I could remember from my last couple months in the states was that she was the daughter of some Fortune 500 asshole or something like that. It was probably just a coincidence.

"Okay, let me...put some pants on."

* * *

"Hello?" I said into the phone, my voice still slightly groggy.

"Is this Iggy?" The feminine voice asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Who the hell is this?"

"My name's Raina," she stated. "I'll cut to the chase. My father's company is hosting an event that is going to have some of the highest ranking officials from all over the world. We need the best to do security detail."

She was percise and to the point, just like Fang which was a good thing. Time is a precious thing, don't need to suffer through small talk if you really don't have to.

"Look, Raina, I'm honored that you thought of me, but I really need to stay with my team," I let her down.

"Look, Iggy, I kind of already worked it all out with your team leader and...well, the private jet is already waiting," she said unapologetically.

She was relentless just like Max...something that I wasn't so sure I liked. Although it had always kept us alive back when the School had been hunting us to the corners of the earth.

"Besides," she added. "Your team is on break for the next two weeks, so I thought you wouldn't mind making a bit of extra spending money."

The governments and agencies that hired my team paid us well, but there were a lot of us. After transportation, housing, food (which, as a bird kid, I probably had the equivalent of three men), equipment and, well, booze...that didn't leave a ton for all forty of us. Sure it was way more than enough to sustain a family, which some of them did happen to have back home, but its not like I had mouths to feed. So mostly anything extra either went to the other guys or I spent on another sports car that I never use.

"How much are we talking?" I asked, more willing to negotiate now.

"Half a million," she said. "But all other costs will be included of course."

I coughed. "Could you repeat that?" I had already gone blind once, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going deaf as well.

"Is that not enough?"

I gave her silence from my end of the line.

"Okay, I'll make it 750,000" she stated. "But I really can't go any higher, I do have a budget."

Now that I think about it, I probably could have negotiated any high, but I was in so much denial at the time that I couldn't even think to do something like that. That kind of money could buy me a house...six or seven crappy houses. That could start a whole new life for me. At the same time though, I didn't want to leave the guys.

"Yeah...sounds good,"I stuttered slightly.

"Great," she said. "Well, I have a ton of stuff to do today, but everything is taken care of for you and hopefully I'll see you tomorrow sometime."

I heard the phone line go dead.

And that's how your life changes in less than two minutes.

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**So basically, you'll find out how later, but Iggy isn't blind anymore. Anyways, I hoped you liked it and Angel and Gazzy will make an appearance in the next chapter :) **


	5. Chapter 5

**So since Gazzy and Angel kept together, I'm going to do both of them in this chapter and just split in half, plus I want to finally reunite the flock as soon as I can.**

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**Angel POV**

My brother had an annoying belief that I shouldn't be controlling people's minds, even if their decisions weren't the right ones. After being with me for so long, his brain had built up an immunity to my control before I had even realized that I could control people, but I could still easily read it as long as he didn't purposely block me out (which was most of the time). But he was a big believer in free will and all that jazz. Which I was too...as long as they agreed with me, of course.

Which was why when my daddy (actually my stepdad, long story) got a job offer in LA as a travel consultant and they were actually considering _not _taking it, I might have used a little bit of influence to convince them to go to LA. We lived in suburbia. As much as I loved living with my family, the boring town was slowly killing me on the inside. The closest mall was thirty miles away and the local movie theater only had two theaters. The neighbors were the stereotypical movie 50s families with the doting house-wife, bread winner husband and the clean cut children that went to the local youth group at least twice a week. Our family was nothing like that and ,even though no one in this peaceful conservative place knew about the wings, it was obvious. For the last year I had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to leave this subergatory and the fact that our parents were thinking about not accepting the offer just plain pissed me off.

"Angel..." Gazzy sighed, instantly knowing exactly what I had done. "What did I tell you?"

"You told me to choose carefully," I reminded him. "And I did choose carefully. This is vital for the rest of our lives. You really wanna live in this neighborhood that's stuck in the 50s?"

He sighed, knowing that I was right. He hated it here and I didn't have to read his mind to know that. Don't get me wrong, he was thrilled that our old life of running from the School was over, but after a life fueled by adrenaline, boring was excruciatingly dull to us.

"Fine, but this is the last time you're doing it to our parents, right?"

I stayed silent.

"Right?" He insisted.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

We both knew that I was lying, but it made Gazzy feel better for a little while.

"But you're right...I do hate this place," he admitted before slamming my bedroom door behind him.

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**Gazzy POV**

Angel was a pain in the ass, but there was nothing that you could do about it but tell her to stop. Not that it changed her mind about anything. I was afraid that if I upset her she would do something even worse, like make someone kill themselves. Even though it had been years she had done anything like the (with the Erasers), I still saw the scared little girl in her eyes from time to time. I knew what she was capable of and it scared the hell out of me.

"Mom?" I said, walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah Gazzy?" She said, reaching up and ruffling my head just like Max used to.

"When are we moving?" I asked.

"The end of this week."

I was surprised at how abrupt this whole thing had come about. Last night I was working on my science project for the science for in a couple weeks, and tonight our house was filled with boxes and there was a moving truck in our drive way. It was probably a good thing though because school in California hadn't even started yet so I might even be able to start school by the first or second day if all the paper work went though quick enough. I just prayed to god I wouldn't have to go to another school like the prep school Anne had made the flock go to five or so years back. I shuddered every time I thought of that uniform that made me look like the grandson of Mitt Romney.

"We're not riding in that truck, are we?" I looked through the window.

"No we're hiring someone. We just got it early because we have a lot of stuff to pack," she answered.

Our mom was...warm. She was almost the opposite of Max, the only maternal figure I'd had for the first nine years of my life. She was very expressive with her feelings, but was almost never angry, the choice emotion Max chose to show when she chose to show emotion. The only reason I was thinking about Max was because last time we'd heard from her, which was about six months ago, she had been in L.A, which was where we were moving. I just wondered if Angel wanted to move to move there solely because she hated it here or because there was a chance that we'd get to see Max more. Our dad, on the other hand, was like an older version of Iggy, except more awkward. He was goofy and our mom often accused him of looking at other women in public and called him a pig (this was the only problem between our parents) just like Max would call Iggy oftentimes.

It didn't matter if we saw Max or not, we all knew that the flock was never going to be the same again.

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**So yeah, sorry I've been AWOL these last two months, but I'm back in business after adjusting to being back in school. Next chapter is going to clear up some of the confusion with Raina and explain some of her background. Review and hope you liked it!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Raina's POV **

Today was the day that the entire flock would all be together in almost five years. I had no idea how they were going to react, so everything else had to go perfectly. So far, Max and Fang had hit it off better than I had hoped, even though there was some undeniable tension between the two. Angel and Gazzy had kept in touch with Max since they reunited with their family, so I wasn't too worried about the siblings. But...Nudge and Iggy were the wild cards.

Nudge; as far as I knew, Nudge hadn't really kept in touch with any of the flock members except for an email or two. She had been separated from the flock for the longest and was the only one that had always wanted a normal life. Her reaction to seeing everyone could be a bad reminder of her winged past.

Iggy; I didn't know the details, but I knew that the Iggy had left Fang and Max not on very good terms. The gist of it was that they were pressuring him to get surgery on his eyes and he felt like they thought he was just dragging them down. So there was a big blowout, Iggy stormed out and that was the last time the three saw each other. Iggy was the one I was the most afraid of retaliating.

I had it all planned out; big conference room so that everyone felt like they had their space. Max and Fang thought they were coming to a big meeting about a huge fundraiser. Nudge thought this meeting was about fashion design. Iggy thinks he's doing security detail. Angel and Gazzy were a little more tricky because neither of them were old enough for anything like this. So, I was just going to separate them from their parents.

I knew exactly what I needed them for...what the world needed them for. There's a international terrorist group in this world that was the fastest growing threat to the world as we know it. It was a silent organization, they didn't announce themselves like many terrorist groups from the middle east. They didn't try to take credit for a lot of violent acts. No one except for the ones working for them or affected directly by them were even aware of their existence. I knew exactly what they were capable of and I would need all the help I could get in taking them down. Since the flock had already taken down the School and a few other evil villains, I figured I might as well start with them.

It was a long shot, but there's not really any other choice.

* * *

**Max POV **

Fang and I were...cordial, but obviously nothing like what we used to be like. It still felt like a dream seeing him here. It had been so long. But at the same time it felt like not even a day had passed, it felt like it was supposed to. And maybe that's what I was afraid of. I hated admitting that I made a mistake, but I already knew that letting Fang slip away had been the worst decision of my life.

"You can still make it, right?"

Raina's voice jolted me back to reality. She had called to make sure that I remembered all of the details. Unknown to her, I had idetic memory ("photographic" memory) so I wouldn't have forgotten about the details. Maybe she took my lack of response while I was in la-la land that I couldn't come.

"Oh, yeah," I assured her. "I'm doing my hair right now."

That was a lie...I hadn't even stepped into the shower yet. The beauty about my hair was that it dried perfectly wavy. No need to straighten, curl or blow dry it. But, Raina didn't need to know that.

"I'll see you in about an hour," I told her.

"See ya."

* * *

**Nudge POV**

I had no idea what to expect from this event. The details were vague and my head was cloudy from so much happening in the course of two days. All I knew was that I needed to be in the Clarion Hotel Banquet Room at 10 AM sharp today. Nothing else mattered. I didn't expect to be important in this event because I was, by all means, an amateur in the fashion industry. I was just elated to be invited to something like this, even if it was just on the sidelines.

We were staying in the same hotel that we were going to be meeting in. We weren't in the standard hotel room, Raina had put us up in the presidential suite. She definitely hadn't spared any expenses. I felt like more was going to be spent on this event than what most Americans make in their lifetime.

Despite the fact that the meeting was being held in less than an hour, Janelle still hadn't showered. She'd just woken up about a half hour ago even though I'd set my different alarms four hours ago just to make sure. I had showered twice, redid my make up four times and styled my hair three different ways and altered my outfit countless times. Finally I had focused all my attention on making sure that Janelle at least made it out the door with me, because I knew that otherwise she would roll out of bed the minute we had to leave.

"Janelle!" I yelled. "Get your ass ready."

"Fuck off!" She yelled back.

Friendship, it's a beautiful thing.

* * *

**Angel POV **

My brother has never been afraid of me in the sense that I'll hurt him, but he's been afraid that I'll hurt other people. While I was perfectly capable of hurting other people, I won't hurt them unless they hurt me or my family...or they're just complete assholes. No matter how many times I told him this, he didn't seem so convinced.

"Dad's not nearly qualified enough for this job," Gazzy hissed at me as we walked down the hotel corridor.

As much as he was right, it didn't matter because we were here and it was already done. It's not like we could take back our house that we sold. We were here and that's all that really mattered. He was acting like I had made someone walk off of a cliff or something.

_Shut up, _I told him telepathically. _I made some adjustments to his resume._

There was something odd about this whole thing, I had to admit. When I read (or control) someones mind, I leave somewhat of a traceable imprint that only I can feel. Bizarrely enough, I felt a few, extremely strong imprints of mine, but I couldn't quite pin any of them down. If I had lived any other life, I would have ignored the feeling and pinned it on some wierd freak occurence in my mind.

But in my life, nothing is just coincidence.

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**Alright, so I'm going to be doing the guys' POV in the next chapter, which is when they will all finally meet. **


	7. Chapter 7

**SO its been a while since I posted, but I've been working on all sorts of projects lately. **

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**Raina's POV**

I sat in a huge banguet hall all alone. Any minute they would all come in trhough different doors. The way that this moment went down could determine the fate of the world. I know it sounded dramatic, but it wasn't an exaggeration.

Max and Fang's door wiggled a little and the knob turned. Every muscle in my body clenched as I anxiously waitd. Time was slowing down in my mind which made me all the more nervous. When Max and Fang popped their heads in, I relaxed just a little bit.

"Hey, are we earl?" Max asked.

It must have seemed strange that the whole room was empty when it was supposed to be crammed with people, but I didn't have time make an excuse as Nudge's door and Iggy's door both opened. Max's head immediately turned to the other side of the room as the doors opened and revealed the next two oldest of the flock. One of Fang's eyes twitched when he laid eyes on Iggy. Looking back over at me, Max sent me a questioning look.

Nudge was more than happy when she came in with all smiles and giggles. But her smile dropped as soon as she everyone else. I felt slightly guilty for that face. She was probbly the one that would be the most dissapointed that this wasn't what I told her it was going to be.

Iggy went drk pink as soon as he realized what was going on. Something told me that he had a temper to match Max's sometimes.

It was maybe another thirty seconds before the siblings came in. Angel probably already knew that something was going on before she even walked into the room. Whether or not she told Gazzy...I wasn't sure. Both of their faces lit up when they saw the reunion going on. At least I had made somebody happy.

The older four looked at me with suspicion.

"What the hell is going on?" Iggy demanded.

"I know that this isn't what any of you expected and I'm sorry. I'll be honest from this day forward," I told them, inwardly cringing at how bad that sounded.

"That's not answering the question," Iggy snapped.

Nudge's friend stumbled in behind her and looked at around questioningly at everyone. It was awkward since she wasn't related to any of this except through Nudge.

"So...you didn't recruit me for my talent?" Nudge asked in a tone that spewed disappointment.

"Actually, the only reason I found you was because your name is all around this city," I lied, figuring since I've already told a bunch of lies, what was one more?

While everyone looked around and got used to the fact that they were all together in the same room for the first time in five years. I knew that in a couple of seconds, I was finally going to have to explain the reason I had gathered them all here today. Now that the moment was finally here, I wasn't sure if I could do it or not. What if they completely rejected the idea? WHat if they were done with the whole 'save the world business'?

"Raina...what is this about?" Max asked.

"Why don't you all sit down," I suggested.

"I'm not sitting until I get an answer," Iggy demanded.

I took a deep breath before I said, "I need you to help me save the world."

* * *

**Fang's POV**

I wasn't focused on why we were all here like Iggy was. I was focused on how much Nudge, Gazzy and Angel had all grown up since I'd seen them last. It wasn't a trap (at least not a dangerous, life-threatening one), otherwise I would have felt it. Even though I was curious as to why she brought all of us here, I was more focused on all of the mistakes I'd made these last five years. I shouldn't have allowed the flock to seperate. Max and I should have moved where Angel and Gazzy's parents were. I should have visited Nudge when I was in New York, which was where I actually lived most of the time. As for Iggy...that whole catastrophe was my fault. The last five years flashed right before my eyes in a matter of five seconds.

I was spaced out until Raina's statement snapped me out of it. "I need you to help me save the world."

_Angel? _

I was a little rusty at communicating telepathically with Angel, so I wasn't sure if she was going to pick up on it or not. A few seconds later, she answered in my mind.

_Hi, Fang. _

I felt like I was having a texting conversation with her.

_Is she legit? _I asked her.

_I have no idea, she's blocking me. It's like she knows that I can read minds._

It was a well-hidden secret that our little Angel had special...mind gifts. The only people that directly knew about them were the Flock and the people from the school. Sure it'd gotten out to some of the many people that tried to kill us, kidnap us, or experiment on us, but it wasn't something that the general public could find on the internet. Whoever Raina was, she had done her research. There was always the possibility that it was a natural block in her mind, but we had never come across that before and so I didn't rule that as a likely possibility.

_Can you get a read on anyone else? _

She looked around the room like she could see the thoughts floating through the air even though there was no one else but the Flock and Raina in the room.

_No one knows what she's doing in here. It was just their job to get us here without us seeing each other. _

That made sense. We were spread across the entire country and I think Iggy was even on the other side of the globe. We would all know something was up if we were all in the same hotel at the same time. Our life doesn't have coincidences. I should have seen it coming when I got an anonymous tip about 'Makenzie'. Was that Raina too?

I looked over at Raina who looked like she had accidentally set off a bomb. Something about her bugged me. There was something a little too familiar about her, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it and that really bothered me.

Iggy was pissed. He used to be the light-hearted one that could come up with snarky comments for any sitaution, but I could see the time in whatever military operation he joined had taken a toll on him. The whole rage thing used to be Max's thing, but roles can change sometimes.

For some reason Nudge looked like someone just ran over Total.

Max was on the lookout for something to pop out and I didn't blame her because that's what I did everywhere I went even to this day. She was still as intense as ever.

Angel and Gazzy looked surprised, but happy.

I was...confused as hell and had a ton of questions, but Iggy had the interrogating down already.

"Why did you bring us here? What the fuck is your problem? You lied to get all of us here and you just expect us to sit down and listen to you? This is bullshit."

He had a good point, he usually did, but at the same time I think he taking his resentment towards me and placing and placing it on Raina. There was some shit we needed to sort out before we parted ways again, if he would even get within a ten foot radius of me. Iggy turned on his heels and was about to storm out of the room, but Raina cried, "Stop, just give me ten minutes."

"Why should we trust you?" He asked, starting to step forward assuming that she wasn't going to have a valid reason for him to take ten minutes out of his life to listen to her.

Raina pressed her lips together, hesitating. Everyone was looking back and forth between the two a million times a second. Waiting to see if Raina was going to reveal something revolutionary before Iggy had a chance to get out the door. Iggy almost looked like he hoped she couldn't come up with something so that he could get out of the room.

"Because I'm Fang's sister."

Well, I definitely didn't see that one coming.

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**Finally! They're all back together...sort of. I know that all of the different stories were confusing, but I'm finally tying them all together with a really sloppy bow. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! **


	8. Chapter 8

**So that last chapter left a lot of loose ends and I'll tie some of them up with this chapter, but not all of them because if I tied all loose strings up, then we wouldn't have much of a story left, would we? **

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**Raina's POV **

I don't know how long it was until someone spoke after I blurted out that I was Fang's sister, but I know that it felt like an hour or two (even though it was probably only two minutes, tops). Expressions ranging from paranoia to shock to curiousity were splattered across their faces. All three of those emotions were on Fang's face at the same time.

"What does this have to do with the rest of us?" Iggy demanded. "You're _Fang's _sister, not any of ours. Why didn't you just lie to _Fang _to get him out here instead of dragging the rest of us out here?"

"Iggy, shut up," Max snapped, revealing the tough, sharp-tongued girl that I had heard of, but hadn't gotten the chance to see in action yet.

Iggy's lips tightened with irritation, but he didn't dare open his mouth again after hearing Max's order.

Max turned to me and I knew that all traces of the Mackenzie alter ego that she had created were vanished. The old Max was back and that's what the world needed. As noble as her fundraisers and campaigns against global warming were...those were miniscule compared to the real work that she could be doing.

"You have five minutes."

* * *

**Fang's POV**

Could she really be my sister? I mean, sure, she had the hair, the eyes and the same way of looking Max up and down before she decided how to react to her. I didn't know who my parents were, for all we knew, she could be lying just to use us in her plot of hers, whatever the hell it was.

_She's not lying, _Angel broadcasted to me.

_How do you know? _I asked. _You said that she was blocking you. _

_Let's call it more of a very strong filter, _she told me.

"When I was fifteen, my adopted sister was kidnapped by a group called Petra," Raina said. "We got her back, but when we saved her I noticed how big and how strong this group was. They're taking over the world quietly, like Itex, but a lot faster. Everything from working with Islam terrorists in the middle east to druglords in Mexico to human trafficking in Southern Asia. While we managed to save my sister and the girls that were with her at the time, I realized that there are millions more that are out there that also need saved. I heard about you guys. Since my adopted father has a lot of money, I was able to to a lot of under-the-table research, including the old investigations of Itex and the School, which led me to the files on you and your strengths. When I found Fang's file...I recognized the name of our parents. That was two months ago and ever since I've been tracking everyone down in order to get you all here again so I can ask you for help."

I could see how she was related to me by looks, but she certainly got the speaking gene while I definitely didn't.

* * *

**Max POV**

I felt like I was back at square one again. Itex was gone, the School was gone, and all the evil global corporations didn't seem to be popping up and trying to attack the flock...that fad had gone down. Once the headlines died down and reporters stopped calling, people in public started recognizing us less and less. I had a few stragglers here and there that would say 'hey...aren't you one of those bird kids?' and usually I would deny it and move along. I thought that we were done with the whole saving-the-world business, but I guess I was wrong. God how I hated it when I was wrong.

"Why us?" I asked. "You have money, you could have hired a mercenary group to do it."

She shook her head. "There needs to be people that aren't in it for the money, people like you guys that just want to do the right thing."

I wasn't going to say it out loud, but most of the stuff we did was just for survival, it had nothing to do with our moral standing.

"Max, what you've done for the last four, five years has helped a lot of people. But you and I both know that you're a fighter, a leader. The fundraisers, the public announcements, the lectures? That's not going to do shit against these guys. Everyone in this room knows that you belong out in the field, it was literally what you were made to do."

"What are we supposed to do, huh?" Iggy snapped. Jeez, he sure wasn't the sweet (although sexist pig) boy that I'd grown up with. "Just drop our lives and trust some chick that lied to get us all here in one place?"

I was about to tell him to shut up again, but Nudge beat me to the punch. "Look, Iggy, you don't wanna be here? You are perfectly capable of walking out of here on your own. You're a big boy, you don't need Max's permission anymore. We haven't all been in the same room together in almost five fucking years, some of us are actually happy to see each other believe it or not. Whatever the fuck you and Fang did to ruin your bromance, get the fuck over it for five fucking minutes. None of us want your nasty, snarky attitude right now. So either shut up or get the fuck out right now."

Nudge sucked in a huge breath as soon as she was done. I see her tone has changed, but her wordiness hasn't. I'm glad to say that she gets that sassiness from me, but damn. I hadn't heard her say the f-bomb maybe four times in her entire life and here she was using five of them in one breath.

_Angel? _I asked telepathically.

_Yeah? _She answered, like no time had passed at all.

_Background check?_

_Fang already asked. She's telling the truth, but she's hiding something._

Well, to be fair, everyone on earth is hiding something.

_You trust her? _I asked.

_Do we ever trust anyone completely...even each other? _She responded.

I sighed. Angel had a good point. We had fallen apart. Angel and Gazzy had just been seven and nine when we found their parents and now they were eleven and thirteen and in middle school. Nudge had been a peppy preteen and now here she was looking like she was ready for a photoshoot with Vogue magazine. Iggy...I recognized his looks, but not his personality, which had (from what I'd seen so far) seemed to to a 180 turn around. Fang was the only one that was the same as the last day we'd seen each other. We weren't the old flock that had saved the world (may I say, multiple times, by the way) all those years ago...so who was to say that we could do it now?

It didn't matter because Raina was right- I was a fighter and that huge part of me was itching to get back into action, especially when something like this was going on.

"I don't know about the others," I said, "but I need to do this. I'm in."

* * *

**Ohhh what could Raina be hiding? **

**Anyways, I hoped that you guys liked it, I know that it's been a while since I posted the last chapter and that you liked this one. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I just kept having trouble writing this chapter for some reason. I had to re-write it like three times before I finally got this one!**

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**Raina's POV**

I couldn't believe that had gone so well (minus Iggy's minor tantrum). At first, I thought that the others were going to be ones that had to talk Max into doing it, but Max was actually the one that agreed first, much to my relief.

All of us decided that the Flock needed some time to catch up before they had to sit through a conversation that would probably feel more like a war council meeting of some sort. I wished that they had met again under better circumstances, but it is what it is. Fang, on the other hand, hung back with me instead of walking out (or storming out, in Iggy's case).

"Soo...sis," he said awkwardly.

I had imagined the moment going a little more...elegantly than this.

"Sorry for springing that on you like that," I apologized. "I wasn't sure how else to make you guys even think about trusting me."

He shrugged. I could already tell that he wasn't much of a talker. Hopefully I could get him to talk to me more. I mean that's what siblings are supposed to do, right? Not that I would know what real siblings do, I had never met him.

"Wow..." he said.

"What?" I questioned, giving a short laugh.

"You look just like me," he observed. "You even have that weird dip in your hairline."

I always tried to hide the fact that my hairline made an M shape on my forehead, but obviously I wasn't very good at it.

"That's what every girl wants to hear," I teased. "'You look just like your brother.'"

He laughed. I had just made my brother laugh for the first time. I was surprised at how normal it felt. But his smile fell quickly and his expressioned turned serious at the drop of a hat.

"So, how did you find out about me?" He asked.

I sank into a chair, knowing that explanations might take a while. The whole truth, on the other hand, would take a while to come out if it ever came out at all.

"Well, I wasn't adopted right off the bat, so I remember a little bit of our parents before I got taken away."

I winced at the mention of our biological parents. He was going to want to meet them, especially our mom. He was going to question why they gave him up when he was a baby. I just hoped that he wouldn't hate me for being the one that they had kept while he was the one they had given up. Unfortunately, the answers to all of his questions were going to be dissapointing and ugly.

"What do you remember?"

I noticed that we were both sitting in the same position, with one elbow on the table and one hand gripping our knees. I wondered when I would stop noticing these little details.

"Mom used to mention a baby that she had given up and that she hated dad for making her give him up," I told him.

I hesitated.

"What is it?" He asked.

I cleared my throat. "Well, mom died when I was four."

His facial expression didn't change, but something occured in his eyes that told me he was disapointed on the inside.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry that you didn't get to meet her."

He shrugged it off. "Can't get to upset about someone you never met and died over a decade ago. What about dad?"

I clenched my teeth at the mention of him. "Our biological father was a crackhead. That's why I was taken away. That's why you were sold to the School, he needed money for crack. I have no idea where he is and I certainly don't care. "

There was so much more that I needed to tell him about this story, but it wasn't time. He was already overloaded with information that any more might make his mind freeze. And talking about this stuff was already bringing back a flood of memories that made it hard to maintain my composure.

"I'm so sorry," I told him. "I wish I could tell you that you could come home and we could all be a happy family, but I can't and I'm sorry about that."

He gave a humorless laugh. "That's just not how my life works. Besides, I already have a family...even if we've been distant."

"I'm glad you guys are back together," I said. "You all deserve to be together again."

He reached over and squeezed my shoulder. "It may take a while for everyone else to realize it, but because you brought us all together again, you're already part of our family."

* * *

**Max POV **

While Angel and Nudge were girling out, I grabbed Iggy by the hood of his leather jacket (which he totally stole from Fang) and dragged him to a corner with a plant blocking anyone else from fully seeing us.

"What's your problem, Iggy?" I snapped.

He rolled his eyes. "Shove off, Max," he muttered.

He tried escaping, but I stepped in his way. So either he was going to have to break out his wings inside of the hotel and fly over me or he was going to have to knock me out of the way in order to get past me. If Iggy was still a little Iggy, he wasn't going to choose either one of those options.

"No, you don't get to go off the grid for four years with no explanations," I stated, crossing my arms.

He stared over the top of my head in order to avoid eye contact.

"Typical Max," he quipped.

"What?" I asked.

"Always needing to keep track of us," he pointed out. "I don't know how you've survived these last years not knowing exactly where all of us were every minute of the day."

"You know exactly why I was like that," I defended. "We wouldn't have survived any of the stuff we survived if I hadn't been such a pain in the ass. But we're not in that situation anymore. You were blind back then, which apparently you're all cured of now. Things were more dangerous for you."

"Right, I was just the burden," he spat back at me.

"For god's sake, Iggy, for the last time; you're not a burden. All of us had our shortcomings. Nudge never shut up, we all questioned Angel's morality at time and I have a temper. So what? We looked out for each other because we were a family. Yes, your blindness made me worry about you more sometimes, but you always proved me wrong by doing shit that amazed all of us. Just because you and Iggy are on bad terms doesn't mean that you need to take it out on the rest of the group."

He sighed. "Fine. Just one thing."

"What?"

"That shirt really brings out your chest," he commented.

If I wasn't so happy that the old Iggy was starting to shine through, I would have called him a pig and decked him in the face by now, but he got one free pass.

"Thanks," I said.

"For being a mysoginist pig?" He said, surprised by my reaction and quoting one of my oldest insults.

"No, for being Iggy," I said. "But one more comment like that and I will shove my foot so hard into-

-my ass that my asshole will permanantly be in the shape of your shoe," he cut me off. "I know, I know."

"Good," I clarified.

"Glad to know that some of us haven't changed a bit."

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**I hope you guys enjoyed. Don't forget to review and favorite 3**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys, so I actually started an independent book on Wattpad, a couple of them actually. And if you guys could check those out, it would really mean the world to me because the more reviews I get, the more it motivates me to write in general! One is called 'Into Oblivion' and the other one is called 'Confessions of a Teenage Amnesiac'. My username on there is klutzyblonde. Anyways, just check it out if you like my work and want to see more stuff written by me :)**

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**Nudge POV**

I wasn't sure how I felt about any of this. For the last five years, I had done everything I could to build a life for myself outside of the flock. Escape from the flock was the only chance I had of being normal- as overrated as normal is. It had taken a year to convince Max to let me go and another two years for her to stop asking me to come back. Of course I missed them, there was no denying that. It took at least the first year for me to wake up and not expect to be in the wilderness or some cheap motel that we'd managed to scrounge/steal enough money to rent a room. Waking up in a room on a moderately-comfortable mattress and be able to take a shower and eat whenever I wanted was foreign to me. It was boring, but I wasn't always looking over my shoulder, I didn't sleep with one eye open and the best part; I didn't have to wear the same clothes for days on end.

On the other hand, the flock was the only family that I had ever known. Each of them had saved my life more than once. Max and Fang had always eaten a bit less so that the rest of us could eat enough, even though they thought we didn't notice, I always did. Without Iggy, Max would have cooked our food and we would have died from food poisoning, not Erasers or other enemies, a long time ago. Gasman, well he was the sweetest out of all of us. And Angel, the one that I felt the most responsible for, the one that I always teamed up with to break down Fang into agreeing with us so Max had no choice but to agree with whatever we wanted to do. Not a day had gone by that I didn't miss them, but I had gotten to a place where it wasn't constantly nagging at my heart every second.

Was I going to be able to leave again?

"Did you miss me?" Angel asked.

God, she was eleven now, the age that I had been when I last saw her. She was almost as tall as me, which was crazy! I felt guilty for not ever going to see her. I could have at least gone to visit her. Gasman and Angel's parents had made sure that all the flock members were more than welcome to go and visit them whenever we wanted. We were, after all, the family that had raised their little boy and girl. Even though she was in that awkward stage that all middle schoolers go through, I could already tell that she was going to be a knockout and a heartbreaker (even without her mind-control). I felt myself tearing up, something that I did all the time, actually.

"Of course," I told her.

When I hugged her, it was weird that she came up past my shoulder. I wished that she could have stayed six forever, but obviously the School hadn't perfected the youth gene.

"I'm so sorry," I told her. "I should have come to see you."

"I know," she said. "You just wanted out."

Right, mind-reading. I was going to have to re-learn how to block that.

"Hey, I know Angel's cuter, but do I get any attention?"

Gazzy was huge, definitely taller than me. He had always been tall for his age. But, at thirteen, he was almost as tall as Fang and at this rate he was going to be taller than Iggy by the time he was fifteen or sixteen. His face still looked exactly the same, though.

I let go of Angel slowly and turned to hug Iggy. This was the first time that I had ever hugged him when he was taller than me, it felt wrong. I had to reach above my head to ruffle his head- a tradition in this flock.

"Very funny," he muttered.

"It doesn't matter how tall you get, we will always do that," I broke it to him. "It's tradition."

He rolled his eyes.

Angel cleared her throat. "We can never go this long without seeing each other again."

She was right, it was wrong to not be apart of each other's lives.

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**Max POV**

The more I looked at everyone, the more grown up they were. Nudge was almost 18, Gazzy was a teenager, and Angel was almost a teenager. It definitely didn't seem like the four or five years since I'd seen them. Maybe this was what it felt like to be a parent. One day they're little kids and next thing you know they're taller than you-like Gazzy.

"Where do you want to go for dinner?" I asked them. "Chinese? Mexican?"

"Pizza!" Gazzy, Nudge and Angel said in sync. I guess some things never change.

"Of course," I laughed. "There's a Pizza Hut a block away from here."

"Ew, not Pizza Hut," Nudge said, giving her disgusted look that I knew all too well. "We need an authentic Italian restaurant, not pizza made out of cardboard."

"Okay, there's a place right by my office that is great," I told them. "We'll head over there as soon as we grab everyone else."

"Your office?" Gazzy asked, a little skeptical.

"Yes, my office," I repeated. "Where I work."

"You have a job?" Nudge asked humourously. "An office job?"

I took a deep breath. I should have known I would get shit for it. An office job wasn't something that I originally thought I would do with my life, but various events just led up to it.

"Yes, I run a non-profit," I answered, pulling out my cell phone. "I'm going to call Ella and have her come with us."

I wasn't sure how Ella and her boyfriend had dealt with the whole baby situation, but she was coming either way- even if she had to bring the baby with her. It took a couple rings, but she finally picked up.

"Hello?" She said. "What's up, Max?"

"You'll never guess what happened to me today."

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**I hope you guys enjoyed! If you have any suggestions, I'm happy to hear them :). **

**Don't forget to check out my other stories, if you want :) **


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